Emergency patients wait longer than national average to be treated

The State Government has acknowledged that more work needs to be done to reduce waiting times in Victoria's hospital emergency departments.

Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show half of all patients are treated in 20 minutes when the national average is 19 minutes.

But the Health Minister David Davis says hospital waiting times are improving overall.

"Our most urgent category, the category ones in our emergency departments are all treated within time," he said.

"Those patients that face the biggest threat, the ones that have the most significant conditions, are (getting) very good and very swift treatment, all within time."

Mr Davis says building new facilities will help improve capacity and reduce waiting times.

"The Government has been putting more resources into our health system to provide the support for our health services," he said.

"Clearly it's very important though to have those construction of new and modern facilities where the flow of patients can be maximised, and we're certainly very focused on building that capacity into the future."

Dr Stephen Parnis of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) says Victoria's hospitals need more beds for the waiting time to be reduced.

"The fact remains without capacity growth in the system and that does include more beds, we're going to see these figures stagnate or deteriorate," he said.